Not the Superbowl specifically, Mark, but there’s nothing unique about the
Superbowl that the Internet can’t handle. Certainly, TV content, and similar
video streamed online, is way past any 1% or 5% by now.
The fact that many people watch simultaneously makes a good case for the
various ISP networks to use IP multicast to distribute the content through
their core networks, to their PONs. In fact, this diminishes the requirement
for edge storage. Even if IP multicast is not ideal for use with WiFi, so that
the ISPs would be better off using IP unicast to the subscriber equipment,
people in the IETF are well aware of the problem, and there are schemes to
convert the IP multicast in the ISP core nets to IP unicast at the edges.
The reason most people use the broadcast stream for such events now is not
because other methods are not feasible. It is because the broadcast scheme has
existed for eons, and is still in place, connected to the big screen in homes.
But how much sense does it make, to dedicate about 5 Gb/s of cable or FiOS
bandwidth equivalent to broadcast, 24/7, for some 20 Mb/s of Superbowl, a few
hours per year? Not much.
Bert
